Bestselling author Patricia Rice shares her most treasured novel yet-- a warm and witty romantic journey of a single mother running out of second chances, and the irresistible man who dares her to believe in miracles. . . .

Celebrated cartoonist Jared McCloud is plumb out of laughs. So he rents a secluded beach house for the fall to unblock his creative juices--and ends up falling for the reluctant landlady whose beautiful green-eyed glare reads like a "No Trespassing" sign against the world.

Cleo Alyssum isn't exactly a recluse, though living on an island and avoiding people aren't the actions of a social butterfly. Cleo simply has more important things to do than to chat with the sexy, artistic, impossibly bullheaded hunk living in her guest house. Yet somehow Jared and his devilish charm inch their way into her life, reaching the warm places her cold exterior cleverly hides. Will Cleo open her heart to a man who falls short of her expectations? After all, it wasn't her intention to fall for someone who is almost perfect. . . .

From the Paperback edition.